Multicrinkled tinsel



MULTICRINKLED TINSEL Filed Jan. 2, 1955 2 sheets-sheet 1 f //V VE /V 7' ORS I ATTORNEY March 10, 1936. `p KRANZ- ET AL 2,033,340

MULTICRINKL'ED TINSEIi Filed Jan. 2, -1935 2 sheets-sheet 2 BY y ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 10, i936 MULTICRINKLED TINSEL Philip Kranz, Philadelphia, and Adolph Hartmann, Elkins Park, Pa., assignors to Bernard Wilmsen, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application January 2, 1935, Serial No. 122

7 Claims.

Our invention relates to a new and useful multicrinkled tinsel and the method of making the same, whereby a novel tinsel of the kind ordinarily employed for the decoration of Christmas 5 trees, and the like, is produced in a novel, efficient and inexpensive manner.

Lustrous tinsel of this kind as heretofore been made by cutting a flat sheet of foil into strips of the desired width, generally l@ or 3A; of an inch wide and cut transversely in any desired lengths. While tinsel of this type is highly decorative by virtue of its light reflecting qualities, it has been deemed desirable to increase the light reflecting qualities of the tinsel and to impart to the tinsel additional light refracting qualities by breaking up the initially smooth or flat surface of. the tinsel into a plurality of light reecting surfaces disposed in different planes, and to this end it has been the practice to subject the plain or smooth tinsel after it is cut to a second operation for the purpose of corrugating or otherwise roughening the surface of the tinsel, such as by passing the tinsel after it is cut between rollers, the contacting surfaces of which have the desired knurling, roughening, or design. Other methods for interrupting the plain, smooth surface of the tinsel with a view to increasing its light reflecting qualities have been used, but all such methods, as far as we are aware, have involved the utilization of one or more additional operations which were carried on after the tinsel had been cut from the continuous sheet, thus resulting in increased cost both in equipment and in handling. Furthermore, any roughening, corrugation, or crimping of. the tinsel by means of such secondary operations as are above described resulted in a tinsel roughened or crimped or corrugated according to a predetermined design, which while different from and more attractive than the plain or smooth tinsel is nevertheless subject to the objection of monotony, in that such tinsel is all uniformly embossed with a particular repeating design.

In order to overcome the foregoing and other objections, we have developed a novel method for cutting the tinsel strips from the continuous sheet of foil which results in the simultaneous multicrinkling of the tinsel strip severed, the crinkling being incidental to the cutting operation without the necessity of a second operation or the necessity of employing crinkling rollers or any other machinery or -tools auxiliary to the cutters which form the strips.

'I'he manner of carrying out our method as well as the nature and characteristics of the tinsel produced by our novel method will be more fully explained in the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 represents a fragmentary and diagrammatic plan View of a crinkled tinsel producing machine embodying our invention.

Fig. 2 represents a section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 represents a section on line 3 3 of. Fig. 4 illustrating the relative positions of the circular` cutters with respect to the sheet of foil to be cut.

Fig. 4 represents a section on line 4 4 of Fig. 3 showing details of construction.

Fig. 5 represents a fragmentary diagrammatic view illustrating the cutting of the foil into tinsel.

Fig. 6 represents a view similar to Fig. 5 but illustrating the position of the parts and the crinkling of the tinsel while it is cut as shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 represents a diagrammatic plan view, on a greatly enlarged scale, of a piece of tinsel cut and crinkled according to the showing of Figs. 5 and 6.

In carrying out our novel method to produce our novel tinsel we employ a novel tinsel cutting machine comprising the end housings 2 and 4 in which are journalled the various shafts carrying the various parts with proper bearings (not shown). The machine is driven by the usual fast and loose pulleys 5 and 6 on the shaft 8 which carries the driving gear I which in turn meshes with the driving gear I I on the shaft I2. The driving gear Il meshes with the gear I3 which in turn also meshes with the gear I4. The gears I3 and I4 are fast on the shafts I5 and I6, respectively. The shaft I 6 carries the cutting blades Il, I8, I9, 2i), etc., and the shaft I5 carries the corresponding but staggered cutting blades 2l, 22, 23, 24, etc., it being understood that the shafts I and I 6 are provided with cutting blades over the entire length thereof, which in turn corresponds to the width of the sheet 38 of foil to be cut. The foil, as will be seen in Fig. 2, is in the form of a roll 3i on the shaft or roller 32 which is supported by brackets 33 centrally of the meeting of the juxtaposed edges of the knives on the shafts I5 and I6. The cutting blades are rigid on their respective shafts and are spaced apart by the spacers 34, the thickness of which determines the space between any two adjacent knives. In addition to the spacers 34 there is interposed between the adjacent knives the loose rings 35 which are used as strippers or Wipers and which always tend to assume the position shown in Fig. 3, in which the bottom edges of the loose rings protrude below the edges of the cutting knives, the function of these rings being constantly to push out the tinsel cut by the knives from the spaces between the knives to prevent the accumulation of the tinsel and the jamming thereof in said space and to insure the regular uninterrupted travel of the tinsel cut over the endless conveying belt (not shown) which moves below the cutters to deliver the cut tinsel to the packers.

Heretofore a strip tinsel of this character was f completely cut by a single circular cutter, the optinsel strip thus cut, rested, during the cutting operation, flat against the smooth surface of the cutting blade intermediate the cutting'edges of the blade, and the tinsel strip thus produced was at or smooth surfaced in its finished form.

According to our invention, instead of utilizing a single blade of the width of the tinsel to be cut, and the opposite cutting edges of which severed the opposite longitudinal edges of the tinsel strip, to produce a fiat tinsel, we utilize separate coacting juxtaposed pairs of relatively thin blades (the thickness of which is well below the width of the tinsel to becut) to cut the opposite longitudinal edges of the tinsel strip, so that a tinsel strip cut by our machine will have one longitudinal edge thereof cut by the coacting edges of one pair of juxtaposed coacting cutters (working in one direction) and the opposite longitudinal edge of the same strip will be simultaneously cut by the coacting edges of another pair of juxtaposed cutters (working in the opposite direction), the width of the strip being dependent upon the spacing of the pairs of coacting juxtaposed pairs of cutters and not on the width or thickness of one cutter or the total width or thickness of the cooperating cutters.

By virtue of this arrangement the body of the tinsel strip is not supported while the opposite longitudinal edges thereof are being severed by the separate pairs of coacting juxtaposed knives, which due to the torque or strain on the opposite longitudinal edges of the strip during the cutting operation, and the bearing of the knives thereon, together with the form retaining nature of the metal foil, results in the uniformly heterogeneous crinkling of the body of the tinsel strip in the manner hereinafter more fully explained.

In order more fully to explain the structure of the strip and the manner of its formation, we now refer to Fig. 4 and in this figure the coacting blades will be referred to by letters in order to avoid confusion with the numeral references utilized in connection with Fig. 1. Thus the sheet of tin foil 30 will, according to our assembly, be cut as shown in Fig. 4, in which the blade a coacts with the blade b to sever one longitudinal edge of the strip in the direction of the arrows c while the blade d coacts with the blade e to cut the other longitudinal edge of the same strip of tinsel in the direction of the arrow f. The width of the strip thus cut is obviously determined by the distance between the coacting cutting edges of the pairs of blades a-b and d-e. Illustrat- 6 is attained, which, approximately, would represent the position of the parts along the line 4 4 of Fig. 3) the strips of tinsel cut will, due to the torque exerted in opposite directions on the opposite longitudinal edges 42 and 43 during the cutting thereof, due to the progressive overlapping of the blades, and. due to the peculiar, iiexible and yet form-retaining character of the foils used in the production of tinsel, be trans- Versely and longitudinally crinkled all over their area inthe manner only roughly, diagrammatically and imperfectly portrayed in Figs. 6 and 7.

Referring to the illustration in Figs. 6 and '7, we wish to point out that the drawings are highly diagrammatic, since it is impossible to depict with pen an-d ink the exact and highly esthetic effects produced on the tinsel, it being merely pointed out in connection with Figs. 6 and 'l that the tinsel strip 4i) is crimped or crinkled in a uniformly irregular manner along its length and width to form uniformly irregular and irregularly uniform light-refracting and light-reflecting surfaces or projections. Thus as roughly portrayed in Fig. 7 the tinsel strip 40 has the central column of crinkles 4| which, when examined closely, appear like pyramids or frustrated cones, but which, due to their imperfect formation present an infinite variety in their composite appearance or effect. The central column 4| is bordered along its longitu-dinal edges by the slight grooves 42 and 44 which run the entire length of the strip in a manner sufficiently uniform to give the effect of continuity and yet not with the severe exactitude of a groove made deliberately by a proper tool accurately applied. On either side of the grooves 42 and 44 are formed the columns 46 and 48 which are formed of alternating curvilinear or rectilinear high points or areas 49 and low points or areas 50. The high and low areas 49 and 5B are suiciently alike to give the effect of continuity, but since they are not made by the positive action of exact tools they are in their details very dissimilar, one from another, thus producing the effect of infinite variety.

It will thus be seen that by the novel arrangement of the knives il' to 20 and 2| to 24, etc., that is wherein the cutters l1 and 2| will cut one longitudinal edge of the strip 40 while the blades I8 and 22 simultaneously cut the opposite longitudinal edge of the same strip, with the body of the strip 4G squeezed into the space between the coacting blades, a tinsel strip 40 is produced which has a triple crinkling eifect and the crinkling of which is sufficiently uniform to give the effect of homogeneous continuity and which at the same time represents in its details an infinite variety.

It will further be seen that our novel arrangement not only produces a more attractive crinkle-d tinsel but also effects the simultaneous cutting and crinkling of the tinsel strip without the necessity of a second operation for crinkling or the necessity of additional machinery for effecting the crinkling or crimping as has heretofore been necessary.

In connection with Fig. 'I we wish to point out that no claim is herein made to the specic design therein illustrated since that said design is already protected in our Design Patent No. 96,190 of July 9, 1935, the present application being directed t-o the general construction described by means of which an unlimited variety of specific ldesigns may be produced by the provision on a tinsel strip of longitudinal rows of substantially similar configurations, the configurations of said rows contrasting with each other all of which can be effected by adjustment or variation in the spacing or dimensions of the relevant parts of the machine.

We claim:

l. A crinkled tinsel formed of relatively narrow elongated strips, each of said strips having a plurality of rows of contrasting crinkles extending longitudinally of said strip.

2. A crinkled tinsel in the form of an elongated relatively narrow strip having a central longitudinal row of substantially similar crinkles and two end longitudinal rows of substantially similar crinkles, the crinkles of said central row being of a relatively contrasting appearance with the crinkles of said end rows.

3. A crinkled tinsel in the form of an elongated relatively narrow strip having a central longitudinal row of substantially similar crinkles and two end longitudinal rows of substantially similar crinkles, the crinkles of said central row being of a relatively contrasting appearance with the crinkles of said end rows and the crinkles of said central row and of said end rows differing slightly among themselves in details of formation.

4. A tinsel strip having formed therein a central longitudinal row of crinkles substantially simulating the appearance of a chain of irregularly frustrated cones and an end row of crinkles bordering on and merging with said central row, the crinkles of said end row simulating the appearance of an undulated surface with substantially uniform but irregularly formed high and low points in said surface.

5. A crinkled tinsel formed of a relatively narrow elongated strip, said strip having a plurality of rows of contrasting crinkles extending longitudinally and transversely of said strip.

6. A tinsel strip having a plurality of rows of crinkles extending transversely and longitudinally thereof, the crinkles in each of said rows having a generally uniform appearance but diiering slightly one from another in details of construction.

7. A tinsel strip having a plurality of contrasting rows of crinkles extending transversely and longitudinally thereof, the crinkles in each of said rows having a generally uniform appearance but differing slightly one from another in details of construction.

PHILIP KRANZ. ADOLPH HARTMANN. 

